1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an endoscope system having a control apparatus for centralizing control of a plurality of peripheral equipment of the endoscope system such as a light source apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
An endoscope, which permits observation of an organ in a cavity when an elongated insertional part thereof is inserted into the cavity, and enables various kinds of treatment procedures when a treatment adapter is, if necessary, routed through a treatment adapter channel thereof, has been widely adopted in recent years. An electronic endoscope with a charge coupled device (CCD) or other solid-state imaging device at the distal part of an insertional part thereof has been put to use.
In the field of medicine, for example, when an endoscope is used to undertake a diagnostic or treatment procedure, it is a common practice that an endoscope system is constructed by mounting an endoscope, a light source apparatus, and other equipment required for use in a rack.
The endoscope system is constructed by combining diverse peripheral equipment according to a purpose of use. The diverse peripheral equipment include a light source apparatus for supplying illumination light to a subject via an endoscope, a video signal processing unit for processing image signals provided by the endoscope, an automatic photography unit for photographing optical images provided by the endoscope, a cautery hemostasis unit for cauterizing a lesion for treatment, and a cautery power supply unit for the cauterization.
Typically, the above peripheral equipment are mounted in a rack or the like to construct an endoscope system. In this case, the equipment are operated independently. In this state, observation or treatment is carried out. Since components are designed to be used independently, they must be operated while being accommodated in the rack or the like. Depending on the design of the rack or the arrangement of units, a doctor or an nurse who operates the endoscope system is obliged to stand at an inconvenient position or walk about for operation. This complicates an operating procedure and causes a failure in realizing an environment most suitable for examination or treatment. For an endoscope system comprising a plurality of peripheral equipment, a function is needed to operate peripheral equipment constituting the system at a single station, centralize the control of multiple equipment, and check the operating states of the multiple equipment at the single station.
The present patent applicant has proposed an endoscope system having a chair equipped with operation switches in U.S. Pat. No. 4,854,301. In the system, the switches on the chair are used to operate equipment. This improves the operability in endoscopic examination or treatment.
However, in the conventional system, although the switches are arranged at easy-to-operate positions, peripheral equipment cannot be operated or controlled on a centralized basis. It is therefore impossible to actuate multiple different equipment or operate them in harmony using a single switch. Moreover, since the operation switches are designed for specific units, the location of an operation unit or the combination of peripheral equipment cannot be altered flexibly.
For centralized control of multiple equipment, quite a number of operation switches must be installed in association with the functions of the multiple equipment. It is typically thought that all the operation switches are integrated into an operating means. However, this arises such drawbacks as: it is hard to install many switches at one place; an increase in the number of switches deteriorates operability; an intended switch is not found immediately because of poor visibility.